


LightWeight

by PagetPaulson



Category: Castle, Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 20:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1791469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PagetPaulson/pseuds/PagetPaulson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You can definitely say that Beckett isn't a fan of her partner's new fiancé.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"You're going to absolutely love her," Castle sighed happily as he perched himself on the edge of Ryan's desk. "She's insanely smart, such a happy girl and amazingly sexy. Her eyes are going to get you."

Esposito grinned at the man sending a smile his way. "When is she coming in?"

The author took his coffee in his hand and shook his head. "She shouldn't be here for a week, and that's when we start planning the wedding."

"But Castle you've only been with her for what, five months?"

"Yes," he nodded, looking to Ryan who sat by his side. "But we've known each other for eight years. This has just been a long time coming."

Walking out of the break room, Montgomery came over to give the younger man a pat on the back. "Congratulations Castle. I'm happy for you," he chuckled.

The blue eyed man smiled up to the father of two. "Thank you, sir."

"Yeah," he grinned. "Now you'll know the pain Ryan and I go through every day."

Castle's face immediately fell, his eyes rolling at the snorts of laughter coming from his friends. "You do realize I've been married before."

"Once to a supermodel and another time to a woman who tried to con you out of millions of your billions of dollars," Esposito chuckled, noticing his female friend making her way towards them from the bathrooms.

"Tried is the operative word there," the author pointed out before sipping at his coffee. "She did not succeed."

Ryan looked up to his friend. "Does Alexis like her?"

"She's infatuated with her. Just the other night she stole the phone away from me and spoke with her for hours on her job and life over in D.C."

Beckett gave a laugh as she finally got back to her desk, her hand curling tight around the coffee cup that her friend had gotten her that morning just like every other morning beforehand. "What now Castle? Got a new mother for Alexis?" Her brow rose as she watched him turn to face her. "She gonna stick around this time?"

Castle held a grin on his face as he felt the other men around him slowly back away. "Haha," he laughed gently. "That was funny. No, my fiancé is coming to town so we can start planning the wedding."

The wedding, Beckett nodded. "Right."

Pleased with the falling of the younger brunette's face, Castle quickly nodded his head. "So anyway," he sighed, turning back to look at the men beside him. "She's coming in with a week's worth of work and maybe one moment of peace for me and her when Alexis and my mother are fast asleep."

"A moment of peace?"

"Not sex," the blue eyed man laughed, watching as Esposito leaned back in his chair. "There's barely enough time for talking letting alone intimacy."

Ryan tried to hide his laughter at the word, knowing that the older man never spoke like that except for when he was talking about his new girl.

Beckett rolled her eyes before slumping into her desk chair, spinning herself around so she was completely fixated on her work and not the older man. "So Castle, you actually gonna get to work or is there more gossip to be heard?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

The two other detectives whose desks sat just in front of one another's shared a look, Ryan's eyes growing wide as the other man shook his head.

"Richard?"

Beckett looked up from the file she had opened and laid on her desk at the familiar voice, her deep green eyes widening at the sight of the beautiful, elegant brunette woman standing near the elevator. _Oh my God._

"Emily," the author laughed, immediately setting down his coffee and running over to the woman he had promised eternity to. Castle pressed a warm kiss to the top of her head as he took her into a hug. "What are you doing here so early?"

The brown eyed woman pulled away with a smile, bringing the older man's head down so she could plant a kiss on him. "I was able to take my leave early so I thought I'd come and surprise you and Alexis."

Castle couldn't hide his grin, his fingers immediately tangling within her curled hair and pulling her back in for another kiss. "God I've missed you," he sighed, bringing her body just against his with his free arm. "You look beautiful."

"Eh hem."

The pair pulled apart at the throat clearing, Castle smiled to the detectives around him as a suddenly meek Emily his her face in his chest. "Guys, this is Emily Prentiss. Emily, these are the detectives I've been telling you about."

Emily nodded, her hand reaching out to shake everyone's hand. "Detective Esposito and Detective Ryan. It's so nice to finally meet you." Her eyes cast toward the other man beside the cluster of desks. "And you must be Captain Montgomery," she smiled. "Richard has practically raved about you."

Montgomery laughed, sending a small look to the author. "He has, has he?"

"You should tell the man you're going to marry to get your description right," Ryan smiled, his cheeks reddening into a blush at the smile the FBI agent was sending him. "He never said you were so beautiful."

Castle frowned, pulling his fiancé closer to his side. "Yes I did."

"Ryan, try and remember you're married."

Emily's head spun at the familiar voice, her lips curling into a surprised smile at the sight of the other woman. "Oh my God, Katie!" She quickly left her fiancé's side and took the brunette into a hug, her arms wrapped tight around her old friend. "How are you?"

"I'm good," she nodded, Beckett's face trying to turn up so she seemed at least a bit happy to see the older woman. "How are you?"

Castle frowned at the interaction, his hand coming up to motion toward the pair. "You two know each other?"

Emily gave an immediate nod of the head. "We went to Lincoln High together back in Syracuse. She was my best friend for the two years I was there," she grinned as she walked back over to the man she had fallen in love with.

"Best years of that hell hole," Beckett chuckled.

Leaning down to whisper in his girl's ear, Castle wrapped his hand around hers in a vice grip. "She wasn't the one, was she?"

"No," the chocolate eyed woman laughed, her free hand coming out of her coat pocket and setting itself against the older man's strong chest. "That was Kacy, not Katie."

Esposito moved from his desk to Ryan's and stole a chip from the bag he had bought in the break room. "Sex thing?"

Ryan nodded, his eyes fixated on the bombshell before his eyes. "Sounds like a sex thing."

The ivory woman grinned down to the two men, her arms wrapping around her fiancé's torso as she leaned snuggled into his chest. "Well if you call losing your virginity to a girl your senior year of high school a sex thing then yes, Kacy was most definitely a sex thing."

The only female detective in homicide ran a hand down her tired face, her eyes diverting from the once again kissing couple. "Oh this is gonna be fun," she sighed, her body dropping back down into her seat.


	2. Chapter 2

Letting herself be pulled down to sit on her fiancé's lap, Emily sent a smile to the familiar woman sitting at her desk. "So Katie, I never knew this is what you'd be doing," she chuckled, wrapping one arm around Castle's neck. "When we left high school all you could do was talk about becoming a lawyer."

Beckett gave a slow nod of the head, her eyes staying focused on the papers she was writing up. "Yup, I was sure that's what I wanted to do."

"What happened? I heard you would have been the youngest woman to pass the bar exam."

Hearing the oblivious smile in the brunette woman's voice, Beckett finally looked up from her work. "My mother was murdered," she nodded, seeing her old friend's eyes immediately lose their sparkle. "I joined the force right after to find answers for myself, and to help those who feel like their questions need to be answered too."

Emily's hand clutched the material of her fiancé's suit jacket. "I am so sorry," she breathed as she reached out to lay her hand over that of the other woman's. "I apologize for asking, I didn't know."

"No don't be sorry, it's alright. You just asked a question."

The brown eyed woman let Castle's arms wrap tight around her waist as her old friend sent her a small smile. "Well you're doing a great job," she grinned. "Castle told me you were the youngest to make the homicide sector out of men AND women."

"I was," Beckett laughed, feeling herself fall back into that old friendship she and the older woman had.

Emily's head tilted to rest against that of the man she was about to marry. "Quite the accomplishment," she winked.

"Well what about you? There have been at least seven or eight newspaper articles with your name in the headlines."

"Yeah, FBI," she smiled gently. "Youngest woman to make it into Interpol and then transfer to the Behavioral Analysis Unit."

Beckett leaned toward the couple that sat just beside her desk, completely intrigued with what the older woman was saying. "Really? What age?"

Emily let herself shift herself and cuddle more into the side of the older man, feeling his chin coming to rest on her shoulder. "I was twenty-one when I entered Interpol and twenty-six when I was transferred to the BAU over at Quantico."

The author pulled his fiancé closer to him and pressed a loving kiss to the crook of her neck. "She's always been one to break barriers," he grinned, feeling his smooth palm cup his cheek as her dark hair created a curtain around their kissing lips.

Beckett rolled her eyes, pulling back from the pair as reality set back in. Her high school friend was marrying her ex-boyfriend. "Right. So when is the date?"

"We're thinking about June nineteenth which is the first day we met," the ivory woman whispered fondly. "Or we might be waiting until December twenty-first."

"What's the significance of the December date?"

Castle looked to his coworker over at the other set of desks, his hands protectively lying over the stomach of his beautiful brunette woman. "It's a personal memory for Emily, and we thought that it might be nice to combine a good experience with a bad."

Beckett watched as her friend set a kiss to her ex's forehead, her face falling even harder than it had before at the obvious sight of their love. There wasn't a chance that they would get back together. "I'm sorry," she nodded hastily, pulling their attention back to her. The detective smiled. "That's a good idea to replace an old memory with a new one, especially if it makes you happy."

Emily's lips curled into a sad smile, standing from her fiancé's lap and taking his hand in hers. "Thanks Katie."

"Well we have to go," the author sighed. "Emily has informed me that she would like to buy Alexis the puppy that she's been begging for as a present."

"It is her birthday tomorrow."

Beckett gave a short wave to the pair before quickly burying her head back in the file on her desk, not able to bear the sight of the two that were to be married hugging over by the elevators. She had seen the ring that the Emily had been gifted with and it was nothing compared to the rings she had seen on his exes' fingers in those pictures at his house. Emily wasn't one to want something flashy.

Running her hands roughly though her hair, the New York detective closed her eyes and sighed. It was like they were the perfect couple.


	3. Chapter 3

Emily settled herself between her fiancé's legs with her back to his chest, her smile content as they watched the reddening sun from the author's balcony. "This is beautiful, honey."

"I haven't been out here in a while. It is," he nodded.

"You haven't been out here in a while?" Emily couldn't keep the laughter out of her voice. "Goodness, if I lived here then you wouldn't be able to get me to come back inside."

Castle craned his neck to nuzzle his nose just underneath the younger brunette's ear, up against that soft spot he knew she had. "You wanna know why I don't come out here all the time?"

"Please."

Hearing his fiancé sigh happily, her body resting back against his, Castle pressed a kiss to her head. "I don't come out here all the time because on a certain birthday a few months ago, and this beautiful woman and I came out here after I treated her to this fabulous dinner in a restaurant that I had completely rented out so it would be only her and I. After leaving her birthday dinner, we came back here and I brought her out on the balcony so we could watch the stars, and all we could do was jump each other's bones."

Emily let out a bark of laughter at the whispered words that flowed through her ears. "Shut up," she grinned, her eyes wide with glee as she turned just slightly to slap at his chest.

"That's right where it happened," he gestured with his hand, nodding to the railing just a few feet to the left. "And when we were done it started to rain."

The ivory woman leaned her head back so it could lie on the author's strong shoulder. "I remember," she nodded, her mind reeling as the fond memory returned to her.

"I haven't been out here since because every time I saw the railing, I knew that you weren't here with me."

Turning around in her fiancé's grasp, Emily got to her knees and situated herself just before the older man. She cupped his cheeks before pecking at his lips, her warm midnight eyes staring deeply into his. "But I'm here now," she stated happily. "And I get to stay here for three whole weeks."

Castle couldn't help but smile at the younger woman's optimism. "We still need to figure out who's moving where, you know that right?"

"I do," she nodded affirmatively, her body growing closer to his. "But we still have time to figure that out." The brunette agent smiled down to the man who sat in the expensive patio chair. "I love you," she whispered.

Sealing his lips to hers, Castle tugged his fiancé so her chest was crushed up against his. "I love you too," he sighed, allowing her to tilt his head just right as she trailed her butterfly kisses down his neck.

Alexis did her best to step out onto the balcony off of her father's room with her hand covering her sensitive eyes. "Ok hello! Child present!"

Emily immediately pulled herself off of the author, smiling embarrassedly to the teenager. "Alexis," she chuckled. "Hi honey. I thought you and Martha were still having dinner down the street."

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"Yes," Castle smiled, his arms encircling Emily's waist.

Alexis snuck a little peek through her fingers before she took her hands fully away from her face. "Maybe next time makeout in the bedroom like normal people."

Castle sent a glare to his daughter, ignoring the slight giggle he heard from the woman he was holding.

"Ok anyway, Gram wanted me to come and get you because it's movie night."

"Oh that sounds fun," Emily smiled, pulling her fiancé along with her as she followed the redheaded teenager back into the apartment. "What movie are we watching?"

Alexis shook her head, oblivious to her father behind her trying to grab at his brand new fiancé and pull her back against him and stop her stride. "Gram's picking," she shrugged. "All I know is that you better be in for a full commentary from the couch."

"You have a time to pick up the dog tomorrow?" the father whispered as his hands tried to cup at the brunette's hips.

Emily gave a quick nod and waited until Alexis was out of sight before she turned back around to face her man, slapping at his hands to get them away from her waist. "Stop it," the agent laughed as she stood back. "Fooling around when other people, people who I would rather see us that way, are around is not going to be happening, I'll tell you that."

"Come on," the older man groaned. "We can't do it just a little bit?"

"We can do things when it's time for bed just as we always have."

Satisfied with the laugh he got out of the younger woman from giving a pout, Castle bent his head to join their lips. "Fine. But only because I love you."

"Well then I guess I'm lucky you love me," Emily grinned, seeing the amusement behind her fiancé's eyes.

"That's for damn sure."

Emily quickly turned at the sound of her phone going off out in the living room and she quickly took off into a sprint, hearing the blue eyed man come running behind her.

"What are you doing?" he laughed as he chased her into the living room.

"I need to get to my phone before your mother does!" The brunette practically jumped over the couch to grab her ringing cell phone from the coffee table, sending a smirk to the older woman who sat there before setting the plastic to her head. "Hello?"

"Em?"

Emily smiled at the sound of her friend's cheerful voice, sitting down just beside her soon-to-be stepdaughter on the couch and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Hey Katie."

"Hi," the detective sighed. "Listen, I wanted to apologize for how I acted when you were at the precinct today. I know I wasn't as happy as I should have been for you and Castle."

"No that's completely ok. I know you were under a lot of stress with telling me about your mom and everything, there's no need to worry."

Beckett set her hand to her forehead, cursing herself for hating her friend for being so nice. Of course she was nice; she was fucking perfect. "I was actually calling to see if you wanted to do something while you're here. I know you're busy, but if there's ever a chance you're free we could get a drink or something."

"I would love that," Emily grinned, her head turning to see her fiancé coming to sit by her side. "Why don't I call you in the morning and tell you then? I'll most likely know most of my schedule by then."

"That would be great."

Emily's body shook with laughter as Castle brought their lips together, her hand still gripping the phone by her ear. "Ok bye," she laughed, letting herself be tugged into the older man's lap so they could start the movie.


	4. Chapter 4

Beckett looked up from her coffee at the sound of the bell on the coffee shop's door ding, a smile spreading over her face as her friend walked through the entrance and towards her table. "Hey," she laughed. "You seem like you're in a good mood."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Emily smiled before sitting herself down across from her high school classmate. "I'm engaged to the sweetest and sexiest man alive, I gave Alexis her birthday present today and she absolutely loved it, and I had the most amazing sex this morning. I have the right to be in a good mood."

The younger woman's jaw dropped. "Morning sex? Really?"

Emily grinned at the green eyed woman. "That's the best kind," she winked, setting down her purse just as the waiter came up to take her order.

 _God,_ Beckett thought, sighing at the thought of the two together. What was she supposed to do to get the other woman to stop talking about her ex? "So how are things over at the FBI? How'd you get so much time off?"

"Oh, well I'm practically a workaholic," she laughed, "so I banked up a couple of days."

"And the cases?"

Emily bit her lip, giving a small 'thank you' to the waiter when he handed her the coffee and muffin she had ordered before looking back to her friend. "Well they never get easier. Kids are the worst."

Beckett sent a sympathetic look to the older woman. "I get it."

"But what about you? I heard you're a decorated officer now."

Clearing her throat, the light haired detective nodded her head. "Uh yeah, late last year actually."

Emily watched as her friend's eyes cast down toward her coffee, and her fingers curled tighter around her mug's handle. "What happened?" she whispered. "If you don't mind me asking."

Beckett was quick to shake her head. "No, I don't mind." Biting her lip, the New York detective did her best to smile at her longtime friend. "I was at my captain's funeral and when I was speaking, I was shot in the chest."

"I'm so sorry," Emily whispered, concerned for the younger woman. "Was everything alright? Did you need surgery or was it a clean through-and-through?"

"It was lodged in my heart," she nodded. "Surgery was the only way out of it."

The FBI agent reached across the table and laid her had atop Beckett's. "Katie I'm so sorry."

Beckett let out a strained laugh, not wanting to yank her hand out from under her friend's. "Well let's not act like I'm the only one. I bet you've been put in harm's way more than once."

"Too many times," she chuckled. "But the latest one was a stake stabbed through my abdomen."

"Oh my God, are you ok?"

Emily smiled, nodding her head quickly to take the worried expression off of her friend's face. "Don't worry, I'm fine now. I had physical therapy after my surgery and waiting period, and got back to work right away. I don't do desk duty."

Beckett shared a grin with the ivory woman, lifting her mug to clink it against Emily's. "I hear you there."

"So what about the dating scene?" Emily grinned, blowing on the scalding liquid in her cup before tentatively taking a sip. "You're way too gorgeous to not be in a relationship right now."

The younger woman tried to hide her nervousness with a smile. "Yeah, I actually just got out of a relationship about nine months ago and I haven't gotten back out there yet."

"Well that's ok, everyone needs to take a good break from time to time. Who was the guy?"

"The guy," she sighed, "was a guy that I had fallen in love with on maybe the fourth day I'd known him."

Emily's face lit up at the glassy look in the brunette's eyes. "That's precious," she gushed. "What happened? Why'd you break up?"

Looking up from her order with sadness in her eyes, Beckett shook her head. "We broke it off because I loved him so much more than he could love me."

The older woman squeezed her friend's had just a little tighter. "I'm so sorry, that's terrible." Seeing something dark hiding behind those green eyes that she had remembered seeing every day for those two years of high school; the two best years of her life. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you think he couldn't love you more?"

"Because he was in love with my best friend from high school," she replied curtly, seeing Emily's eyes widen and that hand that had been covering hers clench. "Mmmhmm. Castle left me for you."


	5. Chapter 5

 

Emily couldn't be more like a deer in the headlights, her heart stopping and her hand that was covering her old friend's going motionless. Did she hear that right? "He never told me anything," she breathed, her eyes wide as she looked to the younger woman.

"No, I wouldn't think he'd want to. We had been broken up for a little while when you guys got together."

"I'm so sorry," Emily rushed out, her hands coming up to cover her gaping mouth. "If I had known, I never would have said the things I have about him and I. I wouldn't do that on purpose, you know that."

Beckett quickly shook her head, not wanting the older woman to be sorry for falling in love. _With my ex._ "No, it's fine."

Emily bit her lip, her hands wringing just below the table as she looked to her longtime friend. "Is this why you've been so standoffish?" she questioned, not wanting to anger the already upset detective. "I knew you seemed kind of cold at the precinct."

"Cold?"

Hearing the defense in the younger brunette's voice, Emily held up her hand. "No ok, I didn't mean it like that. It just seemed like something was off with you."

"Off with me?" Beckett forced out a laugh. "That's rich. You haven't seen me for years, how the hell are you supposed to know if I seem off or not? You don't know anything Emily, so don't try to fucking analyze me."

Emily tried her best not to feel hurt by her friend's words. "I'm sorry," she apologized.

Beckett rolled her eyes and put her head in her hands, not even noticing the reddening eyes of the ivory woman.

The agent's teeth bit down hard into her cheek as she heard her phone start to ring, and she quickly fished it out of her purse and settled it against her ear. "Agent Prentiss."

"Hi sweetheart," Castle grinned, sitting himself down beside the new puppy jumping around on the carpet. "How's it going?"

"Oh it's fine. Katie and I are just getting reacquainted," she smiled gently, keeping her eyes away from those of the guilty looking woman. "I'm actually gonna start heading home now. Is there anything you need?"

"Just you."

Emily smiled at the love she heard in her fiancé's voice. "Ok I'll see you in a few minutes."

Castle laughed, watching as the dog tried to tug at his shirt sleeve. "Alright babe, I love you."

"I love you too," she said quietly, not wanting to upset her friend even more. Quickly standing up from her seat, Emily shouldered her expensive purse with a tense smile. "Ok, I should get going."

The New York detective felt her heart clench at the sight of her friend practically rushing to get out of her presence. "No Em wait, I'm sorry."

"No," the engaged woman smiled. "It's fine. I just have to go."

Beckett let out a sigh, banging her head against the table's hard surface as the almost crying woman ran from the store. _When am I not a fuckup?_


	6. Chapter 6

Slipping inside her fiancé's apartment, Emily set her bag own by the coat rack and walked through the living room. "Honey?" She peeled her head into the study and smiled, watching as he typed away on his laptop. "Hey."

Castle looked up at the quiet voice and caught the younger woman's eye. "Hey sweetie," he grinned, pulling the brunette into his lap and wrapping his arm around her waist. "How did coffee go?"

"It was fine," she shrugged, dismissing it with a wave of the hand. "Katie had to run, so we thought we'd catch up some other time."

"Sure that sounds great. We can find a day to reschedule one of our meetings with the planner."

Emily bit down hard on her lip, her fingers playing with the small hairs on the back of the older man's neck as she looked to the new words he was typing into the computer. "So I wanted to talk to you about something."

Castle let his free hand cup his fiancé's hip. "Sure. Is everything alright?"

The FBI agent took in a breath before reaching for the laptop and shutting it, turning around in the writer's lap to look in his eyes.

"What is it?" the father of one asked, frowning up to the younger woman that had gotten in the way of him finishing up his new chapter. "It has to be important," he chuckled. "You wouldn't close my laptop for nothing."

Emily was quick to nod her head, knowing how important her fiancé's craft was to him, especially when he was in the right mood. "I was speaking to Katie, and she told me about you and her."

Castle did his best to hide his surprise. "What about me and her?"

"She told me about you and your relationship with her around nine months ago." The soon-to-be Mrs. Richard Castle wrung her hands behind the older man's neck. "You didn't tell me."

"Wait." Castle held up his hand, his brows furrowing at the words that left his fiancé's mouth. "She just happened to casually slip in that she was in a relationship with the man you were about to marry? How did it come up anyway?"

Emily shook her head. "Don't blame this on her," she scoffed. "I'm glad she did bring it up. God, I was saying things about us that I never would have if I was given a little heads up."

"What exactly were you saying?"

The brunette let her eyes close, a breath leaving her lips. "That's not important."

Castle's eyes widened, his jaw dropping when he saw those chocolate eyes he had fallen in love with look back to him. "About sex?"

"Well yeah! Girls talk about those things with their girlfriends, but if you had told me that you were in a relationship with one of my oldest friends then I would never have said anything."

The older man tried to loosen up under the agent's anxious hold on him. "I'm sorry but I didn't know that you two knew each other."

Letting out a sigh, Emily flicked her tongue over her bottom lip. "I think maybe we did this too fast," she whispered.

Castle felt his heart break at the few words that left his soon-to-be wife's lips. "What are you talking about?" He tightened his hold on the woman he loved that much more and let his fingers tangle together behind her back. "Our engagement?"

"We obviously still have a lot to learn about each other," Emily breathed out, fighting weakly to get up from her fiancé's lap.

"We know everything about each other!"

The FBI agent pinched the bridge of her nose to stop the stinging in her eyes. "Richard please, just listen to me ok? We've been in a relationship for five months and engaged for only a few weeks. I think maybe we should just put a hold on planning the wedding right at this moment."

Castle sat stiffly in his desk chair, his eyes staring at the wood of his specially one of a kind desk because he was afraid that if he looked up at the younger woman that he would feel tears come to his eyes. "You want to wait."

"I think it's for the best."


	7. Chapter 7

Blinking hard to try and keep herself awake after a completely sleepless night, Beckett held her coffee mug tight in her hand and sat herself down at her desk in the bullpen of the twelfth precinct. After realizing she wasn't going to get to bed because she had felt so guilty for making her oldest friend practically burst into tears, she kept herself up going through old cold cases that she had kept through the years.

"Hey Castle," the Irish detective laughed. "You weren't supposed to come in today. What's up?"

The only woman on the team turned, her eyes bugging from their sockets at the sight of the sleep deprived man walking into the bullpen.

"Yeah," he huffed, coughing into his fisted hand before taking the chair he had always sat in and moved it to the side of Ryan's desk. "Emily and I thought it was good to take a breather for a day before jumping into the wedding planning?"

Esposito grinned to his friend from behind his computer screen. "Jitters, huh?"

"Something like that."

Beckett let her tongue flicker over her coffee covered lip, her eyes searching those of her friend when he turned to look her way. "Morning," she nodded.

Castle tried his best to let the anger he was still holding onto go before nodding back to the New York detective. "Good morning."

Settling down her coffee, the younger brunette turned fully in her chair and scooted just that much closer to her friend. "So," she smiled nervously, her voice whispered so no other officer could hear them. "Did Emily tell you about last night?"

"She did."

Beckett felt her chest constrict at the dullness she saw sitting behind her ex's eyes. "Castle, can I speak to you for a minute?"

The older man grunted as he sank further into his seat. "We are talking."

"In private." Her hands curled tighter around the arm of her desk chair when the writer did nothing to show he was acknowledging her. "Please?"

Castle forced himself not to roll his eyes as he stood, following his ex-girlfriend out of the bullpen and into the break room, watching as the detective shut the two entrance doors so she knew no one could hear. "What?"

Beckett ran her hands down her face. Time to face the music. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry for upsetting Emily last night, and how I handled things. It was rude and I never meant to hurt her."

"That's nice, I'll be sure to tell her. Are we done here?"

The younger woman stiffly shook her head. "Castle please just listen to me."

Castle looked to the New York detective with anger in his blue eyes, his fists clenching at his side as he so dearly wanted to take something in that room and throw it, the urge forming just to scare the younger woman. "Do you understand what you've done? You went and brought up our history and now she's having doubts."

"She was telling me really intimate details about you two, ok? I didn't want to listen to it anymore."

"And so to help yourself, you go and shit all over your friend and my fiancé?" The writer turned to the side and slammed his hands against the wall. "She went to a hotel for the week to think things over and you're here bitching about how we were making you feel. We were happy!"

Beckett's jaw dropped. "Emily left?"

"Yes," he growled. "Emily left. My engagement with the woman I love may be over and you're worrying about yourself?" Castle bit down hard on his cheek at the sight of the tears entering his ex's eyes, hating that his anger was making her feel this way. "Stop it."

"I'm allowed to be hurt by what you're saying to me, Castle!"

Castle stomped over to the brunette woman, glaring at her with a sense of aggravation he'd never had before. "This ISN'T about you, Kate! This is about me and Emily, and you could have ruined my soon-to-be marriage because you couldn't tell your friend in a nice way how to stop talking about our relationship. I finally got the woman I've wanted to marry for eight years to say yes to me, and now it could be ruined forever because of you!"

Beckett's hand came up to cover her mouth, watching as the man she had never known to blow a fuse march out of the break room and toward the elevators, his back turned on her like she thought it never would be.


End file.
